Why is the Right Consumed With Conspiracy Theories?

There seems to be an epidemic breaking out amongst those on the right. Where once conspiracy theories seemed to be the preserve of a few nutters, now the right positively laps up the conspiracies as though they have just come out of a famine. The most recent example of the kind of rabid, racist nonsense that they have been spouting relates to the recent war in Lebanon. Those on the far-right have been eager to claim that Israel has done nothing wrong whereas the Lebanese, particularly Hizbullah, are a bunch of evil, conniving murderers. Despite all the evidence that points any sensible person to conclude the opposite, those on the right continue to follow their conspiracy theories.

A good example is the ambulance incident that many of the far-right commentators have dismissed as nothing more than a hoax. They have all been eagerly jumping on the bandwagon, pointing at the work done by one particular blogger that would seem to suggest that the photos are indeed a hoax (although the blogger actually states that 'the attack on the ambulances most likely never occurred'). However, on closer inspection, the argument appears to be somewhat floored, particularly when analysing the photos that are used as evidence. Allow me to explain. The commentator uses the following photograph plus text:

Photo 1

But this view of the same hole, found on this site, tells a completely different story. First of all, notice that the irregular white blotches and other gashes match those in the first picture, doubly confirming that this is the same ambulance, but with better lighting and at a better angle, photographed from the right side. Now look carefully at the edges of the hole. There is an unpainted flange of consistent width around the perimeter, with small screw holes at regular intervals. Also, the metal around the edges is not bent inward, as one would expect from a missile puncturing through the roof. In fact, the hole looks unmistakably like a pre-existing circular hole in the roof, to which some feature -- such as a light or a vent cover -- was attached, and then removed (emphasis mine).

Then consider another photo used later in evidence:

Photo 2

If you look very closely, around the area where the hole spreads away from the centre you might notice a slight difference between the two photos. In photo1, the metal around the perimeter of the hole does indeed seem to be bent outwards. However, in photo 2 it is very clearly bent inwards, how could this be?? I would argue that this is simply because the photos are not entirely accurate. In fact, I would argue that one of these photos has been tampered with at some point. It is obvious that two of the photos used to prove the point of the blogger contradict one another. Might this be some mischief making by the blogger in question?? Something is obviously amiss. This does, of course, call into question the accuracy of much of the rest of the 'analysis'. It is a typical right-wing tactic, bombard the reader/listener with information, and hope that they don't spend too long analysing the 'evidence'. It reminds me of that September 11th Wingdings email that went around. It all seemed so plausible, until you actually analysed the information and realised that the flight number didn't actually exist.

It is clear that the right has been infiltrated by an increasingly large number of extremists from the far-right. So much so that the conspiracy theories that used to be common amongst a few loonies, have become main stream viewpoints by many. Hatred of ethnic minorities and Jews have been replaced by hatred of Islam and Arabs in general. Many of them start from the perspective that all Muslims are terrorists and murderers and yet refuse to accept the parallels with the Nazi party in the 1930s. Much like the Reichstag fire was used as a weapon to beat the Jews with, so 9/11 has become a weapon to use against Muslims. And, once again, the fundamentalist Christians are leading the crusade.